This kind of thing might happen to Rand all the time, but it’s not often that a digital marketing company based in Leeds gets 100,000+ people reading anything it does (at least on its own site). That’s what unexpectedly happened to us on www.branded3.com a few weeks ago – what essentially started as a rant from some guy having a bad day blew up and now has 1,184 votes on Hacker News (and incoming links from some of the biggest sites in the world).
I think it’s likely I’ll never replicate this, and I didn’t intend this either – so I’ll not preach: “this is how you get 100,000 page views.” Everyone else is just as qualified as I am to write a post that’s read all around the world, and that’s exactly what I want to happen. I’d like to tell you what I’m taking away from this, and how I’ll use it when I’m creating content for my clients in the future.
Commonly known as sharking. Google it.
1. [citation needed]...but not always.
Google only wants you to list the links that are most relevant to and most important to your content – Eric Enge likened this to a research paper around a month ago on Search Engine Watch. The difference between your content and a research paper, though, is that your content doesn’t get discredited if there is nobody to link to that backs up the point you’re trying to make.
In a Webmaster Help Video earlier in the year, Google Engineer Matt Cutts said don’t link out to low quality sites – this is pretty much the equivalent of quoting from Wikipedia in an essay. You don’t have to get peer approved before people will read your post, though, so if there’s nobody to link to that’s talking about whatever you are then that could actually be a good thing. If someone else is covering the same subject as you there’s no real reason why you should get all the links, so you should definitely write about things that no one else is covering if you can.
2. Content needs to solve people’s problems…or highlight them.
I had a problem with Path and as of the time I started writing the post, nobody had solved it, though a few people had tweeted about experiencing similar problems. I tweeted @path at roughly 7am and the first person to reply was someone else who was (very) actively looking for an answer to the same problem. I embedded Design33’s tweet in the post and linked to him; let my cohort know; and instantly a problem shared is a problem…erm, doubled.
Whether your content is solving someone’s problem, or you’re just empathising with them; if you know where to find them…let them know it’s there and get your influencers on board.
3. Find out what people are looking for.
The principles behind content marketing are gaining real traction in the SEO community, and more and more companies are getting on board with long-term content strategies. There’s plenty to say about planning your content out for months in advance, but as Simon points out in this fantastic YouMoz post from last year, it’s not all about Google Keyword Tool anymore. There are some great tools out there to find hot topics (Bottlenose is particularly useful), but the best way to find what your audience is looking for is by using the same tools as they are.
Wil Reynolds is a great advocate of using Google Complete to find content topics (check out Wil’s LinkLove 2013 presentation, around slide 90) – start typing questions, don’t press enter; just note down what people are actually searching for. Search Twitter and find out not only what problems need solving, but who it is that actually has that problem (see point two)! Google Keyword Tool shouldn’t be your first stop when you’re looking for fires to put out, and if it’s monthly search volume you’re looking at, chances are someone faster has created content solving the same issue weeks ago.
4. Find your forum.
…by which I don’t literally mean a forum, since as an industry we’ve pretty much ruined that for everyone – all I’m saying is that you just need to find the right soapbox to spread your message.
In the comment string on our site this guy called me out for posting this on a company blog. At the time I hadn’t really questioned where else I could actually write this up, so Luca made me think. If I had put this on my own blog nobody would have read it…I would have just been complaining without any real platform to build on (might as well have just put it on Facebook or Twitter).
One of our clients is a cloud storage company who obviously have a vested interest in online security, and do write about issues such as this from time to time. They’d never approve something like this for their blog (more in point six) so I would have had to dry it right out…or put it on another site on their behalf.
Hammering this article to fit brand guidelines would have dulled its impact so much, and for a company to write about real life issues like this they really would have had to find a real life case…otherwise they’re just tipping off the media. It would never have worked.
If you’re going to be controversial, find a site that’s fine with that to host your content – that goes for the content you’re putting out on behalf of your clients too. We’ve had plenty of content turned down by webmasters for being too much for their blogs, and you’ve got to respect that. Guest blogging is like the name implies, and you’ve got to make sure you don’t leave a mess in someone else’s house.
5. Write for your audience…
Something everyone is taught in English class from a relatively early age is how to write for an audience. Even if you came into SEO from something else – a computer science degree, MA in marketing; whatever – you still have those classes to fall back on, and they’ll give you a pretty solid foundation in content marketing. In this industry everything comes from experience – if you covered search engine optimisation in your degree I’m sure you found half the things you knew were obsolete by the time you’d graduated…and post-Penguin the other half will get you penalised too.
I found when I moved from in-house to agency side search engine marketing, most of the things I’d been doing for the last year were considered pretty spammy. If you’re writing to put content on websites that nobody reads, like article marketing websites, then you’re not writing for an audience…and that shows in the work you put out.
You don’t have to be a journalist to create great content. If you’re solving problems imagine you’ve got that problem yourself and then just write for you…
6. …don’t write for your client.
If you think you’ve found a hot topic and your client isn’t happy with being associated with it, there’s probably a case for not pushing that. Controversial content gets links, but there’s a certain amount of press that comes with those links.
I don’t have a PR agency, so TechCrunch pointing out that it was probably my fault isn’t a disaster from my point of view. If your client makes a mistake then it might be. In the case of my blog post it wasn’t long before the media-at-large didn’t care anymore (TechCrunch may have even been the start of that) and the chances are pretty good that nobody will remember a guy getting mad at his phone in a few weeks – if a tech company posted a rant about Path it would probably be called a smear campaign.
…and I won’t lie – when the VP of Marketing called me I was more than a little worried.
7. Your content has to be worthy of links to get any…
This is my very first YouMoz post, and there’s a good reason for that – up until now I’ve not really had anything to say that I think might help the community, so I’ve stuck to my blog, Twitter and getting all up in other people’s business when I get the chance.
If you’ve got an opportunity to write for a great site – or to work with a well-known journalist, or whatever – giving them a few hundred words of nothing content will a) not generate much in the way in traffic, b) not generate any leads, and c) make that great site think twice about having you back.
8. …and so does your site.
Which leads me on to number eight: the whole point of placing links as part of a content marketing strategy (or at least it probably should be the main point) is for people to click through to your site. Make sure your users are arriving on a page they want to see.
@stekenwright @phillipsnick @newsyc20 @path I think that branded3.com needs to install a WordPress caching plugin. :D
— David Lynch (@kemayo) April 30, 2013
When St. Louis-based developer David Lynch submitted the post to Hacker News our entire site went down almost immediately (at 17:25, which our Development team were definitely not happy about). It’s a pretty extreme example, but if your site doesn’t present people with the screen they were expecting to see they’re probably going to leave straight away.
This applies not only in a technical SEO sense (see Aleyda Solis’ wonderful resources on mobile SEO and which versions of a page you should be serving to which people for a start), but also in something as intrinsic as the services you’re providing.
Going back to point four (Find your forum): the company I work for not only has a burgeoning social team, but an entire blog dedicated to social media – the perfect place to host an article about a social network, in my opinion.
Make sure your link is pointing to the kind of page your audience wants to find.
9. Be funny, or insightful. Probably not both.
The links generated by my post contain so much more useful information and insight than my content does. Like I said, I’m not pretending to be a journalist uncovering a story. I just presented a real life experience in a humorous way…because it was pretty funny. How do you explain what you do to your partner’s grandparents? I go with “I work with computers”. Imagine trying to explain a social network to two different pairs of 80 year-olds before 6:30 in the morning? You’ve got to laugh, as the expression goes.
Your multi-national debt management firm probably can’t be funny in its content (very happy for people to prove me wrong here). Companies like this have guidelines to uphold and the chances are they’re much more interested in their brand guidelines than the links you’re working so hard to get for them. Make sure you take tone of voice into account and if your content doesn’t work in their speak, see point six. You’re writing the wrong thing.
Your post definitely needs a Wonka meme.
10. Don’t do it for the links.
Writing my blog post, I had absolutely no intention of getting a single link. In all honestly I didn’t fully expect the guys at Path to see it – I just wanted to vent and if possible, make my colleagues laugh. In a very helpful post on Quick Sprout last October KISSmetrics’ Neil Patel wrote that he never manually built a link – he just kept writing. We’re not KISSmetrics, but our blog has been covering as many of the happenings in the digital marketing world as we can possibly manage for more than half a decade – and mostly we just do it because we want to.
Posting a piece of content on your blog every few weeks or months and expecting it to get picked up isn’t going to happen; and it’s definitely not content marketing – it’s just content. No matter how good your stuff is, don’t be disheartened if you don’t get any traction with a blog post…or a hundred blog posts.
What I do think is important is that you look at every piece of content you write and think about how to make it better this time. You don’t need to over-analyse every post before it goes live – I would guess you’ve got targets and deadlines to make after all – just think about how to improve on what you’ve got so your next article will make outreach easier, or will help more people out; and if your last piece performed well, how are you going to beat it? Even if you know you won’t.
Steven, informative post and kudos to you...this site has been full of great posts like people such as yourself that share so well and help us newbies...I wish I could be more funny but I believe I am more insightful and that is just my nature in writing...great pointers for me.
Thanks for your comment ginnyl.
Being insightful is absolutely great, and you don't need to be both. You'll attract a different kind of audience, and depending on your business that can work out great for you. The problem comes when people create content that isn't funny OR insightful...
Great post! Content definitely needs to be insightful, creative i.e., which either explains a difficult topic in a easily understandable manner which otherwise was not easy nut to crack or the way which creates debate or spur controversy, content must definitely be relevant or niche specific, enticing one to share it on social media or talk about it etc. These kinds of content definitely gets lot of traction, visibility in search, engaging traffic and more importantly conversions.
"…by which I don’t literally mean a forum, since as an industry we’ve pretty much ruined that for everyone – "
That made me LOL.
Ironically complaining on the internet is pretty much what forums are for.
Glad you enjoyed the post though Ruth!
I can only dream that a post would hit that much traffic. Congrats on your accomplishment.
I love how you encourage the writing of content worthy of reading rather than making sure the links are perfect. I see it all the time in my industry and it certainly is annoying. Thanks for the great guide. While I am not looking to go viral, creating content that works is the goal.
Thanks for your comment Janis - I'm glad that more and more people in our industry are getting switched on to the idea that great content breeds links and pageviews naturally.
Stephen,I think the problem in my industry is that blogging and SEO is a second career. In order to do this effectively there is a good deal to learn. Many are not willing to learn. They don't see the bigger picture of how this works. While looking for a quick and instant way to get business they flood their posts and SM with bad content and useless links. Funny thing is, that when done wrong they do more damage and waste time and money.
Hmm...I guess that's made worse by the fact that many one-time SEOs have been out there for years flooding industries such as real estate with bad content on article marketing sites, low quality blogs and the like.
In my opinion the SEO industry is still ahead of the curve when it comes to content, it's just a shame that we've left such a mess for you guys on the way.
It's great to see you on a blog like this though Janis, it shows that other industries want to get involved and do things properly.
Thanks, I only wish I had started a long time ago. I've been blogging for about a year and got involved with SEO rather shortly after. The learning curve is huge for me with nothing to base it on, but I do find it fun. What I hate is when I find people that know nothing trying to teach me things.
I have been lucky that I found a path that has lead me to some great information, and people willing to explain things.
Great article! I like your tip on looking at every post as a new opportunity to make it better. I read your rant and I was really laughing out loud. In the US we also get those text to landline calls - in Microsoft Sam's voice.
Thanks for your comment Rachel - I think that even if you get success with a post you need to step up your game to retain the new readers you win over. Glad you enjoyed the post too!
Some great tips here Stephen, thanks for sharing your experiences and the lessons learned. For me it really depends on whether or not you want something to make an instant impact, or something more evergreen that will generate links and traffic overtime. Of course, a blend of content is always the best, so there's absolutely nothing wrong with creating a post such as yours. I also think that to be successful the topic, and more to the point the timing of that topic, has to be spot on. It's a bit like a journalist getting a scoop...if you can discover something that is burgeoning in relevancy, then you're half way there...of course it needs to be a good read and implement the tips you've mentioned too. That's my take on it, but really interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing.
Absolutely agree James, there was a massive element of right place, right time in my post. If you can start to do it not by accident then you're onto a winner!
Best one is your last one, "Don't do it for links", eyeopener for cheap linkbuilders....thanks SteKenwright, for such a nice post
Thank you Jitesh, glad you enjoyed it!
Whoa...that graph looks eerily familiar...I had a post blow up a few weeks ago as well: https://i.imgur.com/aZQ220q.jpg
Looks like we did a similar job of reeling readers back in, lol. I also wrote about my experience and lessons learned here (the rise, not so much the fall).
Great insight, Stephen!
Isn't ringing hosting companies fun? Also, isn't it fun when the site goes down as you're leaving the office? Great post David!
haha it was certainly a unique type of thrill/worry, I can say that.
Thanks and you too!
"Neil Patel wrote that he never manually built a link – he just kept writing."
Fantastic statement (as much as Patel usually irks me)!
It's the approach I've taken with my blog and funnily enough it ranks below a bunch of agencies for "seo cardiff", some of which have thrown tons of links at their sites over the years. Sure, I've done guest blogging, but I've not done it because I've wanted the link - I've done it because I wanted to blog.
...and that's why you've got a link in this post Steve!
Great story and some really good lessons learned.
I especially like the last lesson "Don't do it for the links", which goes hand in hand with "Solve problems". If you write content that educates people and solves their problem, they will most likely link/ share your post anyhow and if not, then you at least have someone who will speak positively about your brand as you have helped them - Win/ Win!
Thanks for the comment Steven - absolutely agree, and I think a little empathy goes a long way if you can't solve that problem.
Nice post, trying to look at site speed at the moment :)
Ive remind my writers every day...write for an audience and fill a need. Before I started really getting the fundamentals of SEO a lot of my team members were writing what they wanted to with no real thought behind who would actually want to read their material. Now we are all about the reader. After all if your not catering to the reader then you wont have any!
Nice story Stephen!
"Don't do it for the links" should be always in our heads when creating content. You earn money from visitors, not from rankings and links. Also, usually you will get more links if you don't think about them. Over the time, links will lose both value for driving traffic and for ranking your page, but brand awareness built with awesome content will be long lasting.
Thanks Steken, and congrats on your first moz post! Thank you for contributing a Wonka meme, as (at least for this site) it is becoming one of the pilliars to building foundation for a post ;)
I liked specifically what you reminded me of when it comes to controversial content. I've heard this plenty of times in the past, and I needed to be reminded again. I've focused so much on the directly informative approach, somewhat afraid to take that "point of view" risk, and I think it's definitely holding me back. Sure, I can share some great information, but can I present a great argument and back it up with that information...we'll have to see.
Here's to many more in the future!
Thanks for your comment, I will definitely try to come back with more posts in the future!
I think some brands can really benefit from a personal touch and a "point of view", but it's not for everyone. My colleague Scott Mason (Branded3's Head of Content) had a post published about this very topic a couple of days ago on another blog which I hope you might find useful: https://www.fourthsource.com/general/content-marketing-can-it-ever-make-consumers-love-your-brand-14336
great post, site speed certainly seems to help visitor numbers and user experience
First of all congrats for the amazing post which got you 100k page views. It really is a fantastic piece of information.
And thanks to share such a helpful guidelines to create a content which get's us viral. Each lesson is helpful and obviously a inspiration for me to make my work and content creation more strategic and happening.
Thanks :)
Thanks so much for your comment Raunaq.
I definitely don't think there's a checklist for going viral, but I think if you try and work out what the boxes might be and try to tick them all when you're writing content it can at least give you a good chance.
While I was writing this Bernadette Coleman got a great post live on this very blog, lots more information here too: https://www.seomoz.org/blog/content-isnt-king-trust-is-king
Great post Stephen!Good to see another Brit posting :) I really like, as Steven said don't do it for links - 100k pageviews, even with a 0.1% conversion would still net 10 sales haha! Fantastic post.
Thanks Charles - think that ties in with 8. Conversions and links are things that naturally come with good content in my opinion.
This post definitely resonates with us. One of my most popular blog topics has been about TrueTwit. I blasted how bad (some would say idiotic) it is to use TT and now it shows up on almost all searches for their brand. So your post "starting from a rant" definitely rings true - mine definitely was the same vein.
You lashed us all about ruining forums and you're right. I used to love forums and maybe I will one day again - but our industry did ruin them for a good long while. Sad.
I don't think I will ever get that many hits. Congrats on this big accomplishment. Well you should at least try to replicate this again :)
Well, those are some excellent ideas to keep a blog clean and SEO friendly. I hope I could follow all you suggested!
Great post, Stephen! And congratulations on the 100K views!
I like how you recommended writing about things that no one else can cover. Uniqueness and creativity are often essential ingredients of a popular article. However, it does get harder and harder each day to come up with original contents. Whenever a new idea pops up, I often Google some relevant keywords to check if someone else have already implemented it. In addition, there are ideas that seem to be so great in our heads but when they are carried out, most audience find them very boring.
So I’m just wondering if you have any suggestions on how to assess if an idea is worthy enough to pursue or not?
Cheers,
Trang Lam
Thanks for your comment Trang - I think all ideas are worth pursuing. Expand on everything and try to get other people involved if you can. Once you've got a plan together for what you want to include in the post then you can decide whether there's something there that you would want to read about. If you know YOU want to read about what's included I'd say that's enough call to write it up!
" I just presented a real life experience in a humorous way…because it was pretty funny".
Thanks for your comment Stephanie - I think having an interesting life only applies when you're writing for your own blog, or about your own experiences. When you're writing content for a client then you have to look at what they've going on that's interesting - there should be something, as in my opinion they're probably a good company if they're investing in good content. Try looking at your events calendar (or asking politely to see it if you're working agency-side) and write about upcoming events, or initiatives that are on the go right now.
There's always something interesting, and even if you think you might be the only person who finds it interesting you should write about it anyway. That's how mum bloggers operate, and they get plenty of attention...
Excellent post. I really appreciate this. Awesome tips, a few i'm going to test right now.
Here's another cool post you might enjoy:https://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2015/02/05/build-a-blog/
Thanks for the great post on what is quite an unsexy subject. Speed is directly related to the amount of money we make from our site so we're always looking for ways to improve that metric.
Congrats on your 100k views! Your advice on guest posting really resonated with me - Think of it as staying in someone's home; don't make a mess.
Content is the most important for any site or onlin business. So, I am agree with you that content have to be for audience not for client. Thanks
Inspite of all your mentioned point, i think at last three things matters-
1. Killer Punchline.
2. Killer content
3. Topics for what your are writing.
Great Blog, I like your post, specially those lines like content always post for visitors and content solve the peoples problem.
Thanks Stephen for your nice post. I am very much grateful for sharing with us the 10 lessons on how to create an interesting content that can lead to a large number of views.
great post! I liked what you said about needing to write remarkable content that's worthy of getting links. Too many times we see SEO's writing useless blog posts and press releases just to get ranking.
Thumbs up for you!
Thanks Alan Wu, great to see so many people agreeing about content!
I would like to say congratz on getting links from the likes of guardian.co.uk.
I strongly agree with point 2. An all out bitchfest would get you no where.
Thanks Natalie!
I would be interested to find any examples where people have turned badmouthing others into a successful campaign though. I think you're right and it probably can't really be done...and no brand would really want to be associated with it either.
My 50 cent for this topic-from my experience it's not only ow many page views you have but also the bounce rate and average time.Take care of those two, and your client will be (probably) satisfied.
Thanks for your comment skifr. I agree - because the article was pretty "standalone" on our site at the time, we got a pretty awesome average time on page (around 6 minutes), but not many people clicked through to other pages at all. I'd be interested to know how Google treats this...especially since almost all of the traffic was from referrals, and very little was from search.
Kudos Steken for your first post! :)
I am really delighted to understand the fabulous content your have presented via the respective post. Being a learner, your entire post and the discussions on this topic. included different informative links are really helping me to understand more and more about the content developing/marketing strategies. I agree and happy to accept the concept, especially as you mention that content must be developed as the the user demand or "What people/users are looking for ?". It immensely encourage me to work in correct pattern.
Appreciated for providing such an elucidative post! Thanks! :)
Hot topics are kind of a double edged sword. They might get you a lot of attention and a lot of links but what is it going to do to you brand down the road? There is nothing wrong with stirring the pot a little bit every now and again but you have to be prepared for a less than friendly backlash.
SO true. I've never really been able to get on board with "linkbait" because I don't really want half the people who come to my site to hate me and think I'm an idiot.
I think you hit the nail on the head with your last comment, "Don't do it for links."Obviously we all like links, but content is only at it's best when you're genuine and honest, not when you're trying to use the article/blog for link bait.
Absolutely agree Richard. Influencers who share and spread your linkbait absolutely know how this works, and will see straight through you if your post is just to manipulate them.
Wow these sure are 10 SEO lessons to be learned!
A very insightful post! Thanks for this. Still haven't reached my view count because my blog/domain is relatively new but hoping to pull in more viewers as I build my personal brand online and for the company I'm social media managing.
Thanks Stephen for spreading this info. Fantastic words of advice, that i surpassed to among my students at the office. And That I believe the particular stated earlier: just about every method requires a great idea and outlined schedule. Many thanks
Yes, you are right. We just focusing on client need and wants, always we forget about audience that's why various companies not generating too much page view in their site. But at last, Definitely, this article give me some inspiration about content writing..
I am new here and i have a long way to go. Thanks for the post.
Glad you enjoyed it Tesettür!
Great post Steven and congrats on the 100k page view post! It's amazing what you can achieve when you simply want to help others and solve a simple problem.
I am entirely agreeing with your idea that keeping your post insightful is one of the most effective ways to create traffic and viewers back to your website and don’t write for yourself , write for others interest. With your concepts, I toughly believed that it will work best with this articlehttps://www.doz.com/marketing-resources/content-promotion-strategy . Equally the objective of the latter post is to come up with 100,000 page views and why not? I’ll bring on creating traffic in website with collaboration of these amazing strategies and magnificent ideas.